When Mercy Offends You
Given the current climate, reading the book of Jonah hit different for me today.
If you’re like me, the book of Jonah in the Bible conjures up images of a big whale vomiting up a guilty & sheepish Hebrew prophet who ran away from God’s calling.
It sounds so cartoonish right? 🐳
But this morning I read the story against the backdrop of current events, and it hit different. WAY different.
1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil[a] has come up before me.” 3 But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. - Jonah 1: 1-3
Let me set the stage here. The Lord calling Jonah to preach judgment on Nineveh might be similar to Him calling a modern day 2025 Hebrew prophet and saying, “Arise, go to Gaza, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”
Can you imagine how difficult and stressful that would be? 😳
While God here is acknowledging the evil that is in Nineveh and asking Jonah to pronounce judgment, Jonah runs. He runs far. Tarshish was like the edge of the world as they knew it back then (near the edges of Spain).
Was it fear that drove Jonah to run? Did he not want to stand before Nineveh? After all, they were a huge city in Assyria, which was one of the primary enemies of Israel.
Or was it something else?
The answer to Jonah’s motivation doesn’t come until the very end of the book. Look at what he says when he finally gets to Nineveh, the people repent, and God rolls back His judgment.
Jonah wasn’t running from danger — he was running from compassion.
4 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly,[a] and he was angry. 2 And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. 3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” - Jonah 4:1-3
Jonah’s awareness of the STEADFAST LOVE and MERCY of His creator made him realize that by going to Nineveh and pronouncing judgment, God was giving the city a chance to repent.
And Jonah wanted vengeance.
Oof. 🫣
Even inside the belly of the whale, Jonah’s prayer wasn’t true repentance. It was more sorrow and despair, and acknowledgement of the goodness of God. But you don’t see any true repentance.
And yet, God vomited Jonah out of the fish after three days. Why? Because of God’s steadfast love and mercy.
2 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, 2 saying, “I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. 3 For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas,
and the flood surrounded me; all your breakers and your waves passed over me.
4 Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look
upon your holy temple. 5 The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head. 6 To the roots of the mountains I went down, to the land whose bars closed upon me forever. Yet you brought up my life from the pit,
O Lord my God. 7 When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. 8 Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord! 10 And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.” - Jonah 2
Here are the takeaways I am meditating on today:
Even God’s judgment is merciful. It’s a chance to repent and turn away from evil.
God’s mercy is immeasurable. He showed mercy to Nineveh (an evil city), and to Jonah (a prideful self righteous vengeful prophet).
I noticed the irony in the part where the storm is raging and these pagan sailors are ready to fear the Lord and repent when they realize it’s Jonah’s disobedience that’s causing the storm. They even tried to spare his life by rowing harder! God is showing how religiosity doesn’t mean you get it right.
8 Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” 9 And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” 10 Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.
11 Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. 12 He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” 13 Nevertheless, the men rowed hard[b] to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. 14 Therefore they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.” 15 So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. - Jonah 1: 8-16
After the fish episode, Jonah listens to the Lord and goes to Nineveh, and they repent. He’s angry that God has spared his enemy because he wants vengeance.
As Jonah goes outside the city to watch and see what God does, the Lord provides a plant for shade for Jonah. More mercy.
The next day, the Lord sends a worm to eat the plant and the heat and wind cause Jonah much distress.
5 Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. 6 Now the Lord God appointed a plant[b] and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort.[c] So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. 7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” 9 But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” 10 And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” - Jonah 4: 5-11
Jonah’s pride is ridiculous here (but we’re so guilty of it too). He’s like “Heck yea I have every right to be mad!”
God asks him how it’s possible that Jonah could pity a plant that God himself planted for him, and yet Jonah thinks God shouldn’t take pity on 120,000 humans and cattle.
Then the book ends. 😂
No redemptive arc for Jonah here.
He’s briefly mentioned in 2 Kings and Jesus references him a few times in the Gospel, but that’s it.
A few other reflections:
I found it interesting God chose to mention the cattle. God’s compassion and mercy extend to ALL of creation, not just humans. Wow wow.
Jesus’ mention of Jonah is symbolic - He talks about how Jonah being three days and nights in the whale is similar to Him dying on the cross and rising three days later. In Jonah’s case, he goes unwillingly. In Jesus’ case, He goes willingly and because of mercy and love.
Jonah isn’t really the hero! I thought he was, but that’s because I always remember the story as, “He runs from God, gets punished in the whale, repents, and then saves the city.” But that’s not really what happened.
Every scene in Jonah drips with mercy. Even the storms are invitations to repent.
What do we do with so many calls for vengeance and violence today? What about the critique of people who are being “judgmental”?
This was my biggest aha.
We’re in a culture where words supposedly equal violence. And yet, it’s clear that God’s calling on Jonah’s life was to PRONOUNCE judgment for the chance of repentance and MERCY.
We have it so backwards. We cancel people who speak the truth, even when it’s hard. We need more truth tellers. More folks not afraid to proclaim God’s word unashamedly.
And we need LESS violence and dehumanization. But instead we have leaders like Stephen Miller stoking the fires of violence and revenge for the “other side” - dehumanizing them and forgetting that God desires mercy for them too.
Today, truth-telling is often mistaken for cruelty, and silence is mistaken for compassion. Jonah reminds us that speaking truth is an act of mercy, not vengeance. Because every warning from God is an invitation to repent, not a weapon to destroy.
I was convicted hard. I’m still so scared to speak the truth and piss people off. And I also sometimes doom scroll too much and find myself quietly wanting vengeance against those I’ve determined are evil.
Read Jonah today. Pray and ask the Lord where are you fearful about speaking the truth. And ask Him where you might be letting your flesh desire revenge and vengeance, when God desires mercy.
xx
Thanks, Julie! Very relevant for me!